Algerian Arabic

Algerian Arabic
Dziri, Jza'iri Algerian Arabic: دزيري ,جزائري
Native to	Algeria
Native speakers	27 million  (2012)[1] 3 million L2 speakers in Algeria (no date)[2]
Language family	Afro-Asiatic Semitic Central Semitic Arabic Maghrebi Arabic Algerian Arabic
Writing system	Arabic alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3	arq
Glottolog	alge1239[3]

Algerian Arabic is a cover term for varieties of Arabic spoken in northern Algeria. (Cf. Algerian Saharan Arabic.) Like other varieties of Maghrebi Arabic, Algerian dialects have a mostly Arabic vocabulary with significant Berber substrates, and numerous loanwords from French and Spanish.

Variants

Algerian Arabic includes several distinct dialects belonging to two genetically different groups : pre-Hilalian and Hilalian dialects.

Hilalian dialects

Hilalian dialects of Algeria belong to three linguistic groups:^[4]

• Eastern Hilal dialects:^[5] Bedouin dialects spoken in the Constantinois ;
• Central Hilal dialects:^[6] Bedouin dialects of central and southern Algeria, south of Algiers (particular in replacing [j] by [dj], [ts] by [th] and [d] by [dh]) ;
• Mâqil dialects:^[7] Bedouin dialects spoken in the Oranais (particular in the third singular masculine objective pronoun as h, for example, /ʃʊfteh/ (I saw him) that would be /ʃʊftʊ/ in the other dialects).

Modern koinés –urban and national– are mainly based on Hilalian dialects.

Pre-Hilalian dialects

Pre-Hilalian Arabic dialects are generally classified in three types: (old) Urban, "Village" sedentary and Jewish dialects. Several Pre-Hilalian dialects are spoken in Algeria:^[4][8]

• (Old) Urban dialects of Constantine,^[9] Béjaïa,^[10] Dellys,^[11] Algiers,^[11] Médéa,^[11] Miliana,^[11] Cherchell,^[12] and Tlemcen.^[9] Old Urban dialects were formerly also spoken in other cities such as Oran and Mascara, where they are no longer spoken nowadays ;
• Lesser Kabylia dialect (or Jijel Arabic) : spoken in the –triangular– area north of Constantine, including Collo and Jijel (noteworthy for its pronunciation of [q] as [k] and characterised –such as other Eastern pre-Hilalian dialects– by the preservation of the three short vowels) ;
• Traras-Msirda dialect : spoken in the area north of Tlemcen, including the eastern Traras, Rachgun and Honaine ;
• Judeo-Algerian Arabic is no longer spoken after Jews were expelled from Algeria in 1962, following its independence.

Phonology

List of IPA phonemes & as transliterated in this article: 24 consonants:

/b/

/p/

/t/

/dʒ/

/ħ/

/x/

/d/

/r/

/z/

/s/

/ʃ/

/sˤ/

/dˤ/

/tˤ/

/ʕ/

/ɣ/

/f/

/q/

/ɡ/

/k/

/l/

/m/

/n/

/h/

/w/

/j/

b

p

t

j

ḥ

x

d

r

z

s

š

ṣ

ḍ

ṭ

ε

γ

f

q

g

k

l

m

n

h

w

y

ب‎

(پ)‎

ت‎

ج‎

ح‎

خ‎

د‎

ر‎

ز‎

س‎

ش‎

ص‎

ض‎

ط‎

ع‎

غ‎

ف‎

ق‎

ڨ‎

ك‎

ل‎

م‎

ن‎

ه‎

و‎

ي‎

The consonant /q/ is pronounced differently depending on the dialects: g in Hilalian dialects, and k, ' (hamza) or voiced q [ɢ] in pre-Hilalian ones.

vowels Arabic phonology

long vowels:

• /aː/ /sˤɑːħəb/ friend
• /iː/ (as in "ski") e.g. قريت /qriːt/ I read, in the past
• /uː/ (as in "flu") e.g. تِلِفون /tilifuːn/

and short vowels, esp in initial position

• /a/ (as in "man") [æ], e.g. سامح /sæməħ/ forgave
• /e/ (as in "men") e.g. قَهوَة, or a shorter version of a as in father [ɑ]

e.g., rɑbbi my God

• /i/ (as in sit) e.g. هِيَ /hijjɑ/ she
• /u/ (as in foot) e.g. قُبَّة /qʊbbɑ/ dome

plus the schwa which replaces /e/ in some positions e.g. انتَ /ənte/

Arguably one of the most notable features of Maghrebi Arabic dialects, including Algerian Arabic, is the collapse of short vowels in some positions. Standard Arabic كِتاب kitab (book) is /ktæb/

kalam كَلام (speech) is /klæm/

This feature is also present in Levantine Arabic to a lesser extent. Standard Arabic words containing three syllables are simplified

/ħɑdʒɑrɑ/ حَجَرة is /ħɑdʒrɑ/.

Note that Algerian Arabic is particularly rich in uvular, pharyngeal, and pharyngealized ("emphatic") sounds. The emphatic sounds are generally considered to be ṣ, ḍ, and ṭ.

Non-emphatic /r/ and emphatic /rˤ/ are two entirely separate phonemes, almost never contrasting in related forms of a word.

e.g. /ərrɑmle/ الرَّملة (sand), as in arrive

/jədʒri/ يجري (he runs), as in free

Original /q/ splits lexically into /q/ and /ɡ/; for some words, both alternatives exist.

Grammar

Nouns and adjectives

English	Pronunciation	Algerian Arabic
drink	shrââb	شراب
sky	smâ'	سما
water	mâ'	ما
woman, women	mra	مرة
fire	nâr	نار
big	kbir	كبير
man, men	rajel \ rjal	(راجل)(رجال)
day	nhâr, yom	نهار، يوم
moon	Qmar	قمر
night	liil	ليل
bread	khobz	خبز
small	ṣghir	صغير
sand	rmel	رمل
winter, rain	shtâ \ nu (rain)	شتا \ نو
ball	balon	بالون
napkin	serbita	سربيتة
toilet, bathroom	beit el ma'; beit er-râHa ; Twâlaat	بيت الماء، بيت الراحة

Conjunctions and prepositions

English	Conjunctions	Algerian Arabic	Notes of usage
But	bâṣṣâh	بالصح	Also used is ولكن
If	ila, lakan	،إيلا، إيدا، لاكان، كون	Used for impossible conditions and comes just before the verb
If	loukan	لوكان	For possible conditions, Also used is لو, لاكون and إذا
So that, that	bash	باش
That	beli	باللي
As if	shgol	شغل	Also used is كي اللي
Because	ala khatach, ala khatr, Khatrekch	على خاطر, على خاطش	خخ
When	ki/weenta	كي	Used before verbs
Before	Qbel ma	قبل ما	Used before verbs
Without	bla ma	بلا ما	Used before verbs
Whether	kash ma	كاش ما	Used before verbs
under	taht	تحت
over, on top of	fuq	فوق
after	Men beεd/mora/Bääd	عمن بعد	ب
before	Qbel	قبل	Used only for time
next to, beside	godam	Also used is حدا	قدام
at	εend	عند
with	ma'	مع
among, between	been, beenat (plural)	بين، بينات
lion	sba', sayd	سبع، صيد
same as, as much as	A'la hsab ged	قد	amount
oh, oh so much	ya, ah	يا، آه

Some of them can be attached to the noun, just like other Arabic dialects. The word for in "fee" can be attached to a definite noun. For example the word for house's definite form is "eddar" (الدار) with "fee" (في) becomes "feddar" (فالدار). The same with behind the door is (مورالباب) or just (مور الباب) Murr-elbab.

Gender

Algerian Arabic has two genders, Masculine and Feminine. masculine nouns and adjectives generally end with a consonant, while the feminine nouns generally end with an a (there are however some exceptions).

Examples:

• [ħmɑr] "a donkey", [ħmɑrɑ] "a female donkey".
• [tˤfʊl] "a little boy", [tˤʊflɑ] "a little girl".

Pluralization

Hilalian dialects, on which modern koinés are based, often use regular plural, while the wide use of broken plural is characteristic to pre-Hilalian dialects.

Unlike Classical Arabic's use of the suffix -un for the nominative, Algerian Arabic uses for all cases the suffix -in, used in Classical Arabic for the accusative and the genitive:

mumen مومن (believer) → mumnin مومنين

For feminine nouns, the regular plural is obtained by psotfixing -at:

Classical Arabic: bint (girl) → banat

Algerian Arabic: bent → bnat

Broken plural can be found for some plurals in Hilalian dialects, however it is mainly used –for the same words– in pre-Hilalian dialects:

Regular plural: ṭabla → ṭablat ("Table") ;

Broken plural: ṭabla → ṭwabəl.

Article

The article el is indeclinable and expresses definite state of a noun of any gender and number. It is also prefixed to each of that noun's modifying adjectives.

It follows the solar letters and lunar letters rules of Classical Arabic, i.e.: if the word starts with one of these consonants, el is assimilated and replaced by the first consonant :

t, d, r, z, s, š, ṣ, ḍ, ṭ, l, n.

Examples:

rajel → errajel "man" (assimilation)

qmar → elqmar "moon" (no assimilation)

Conjugations and verbs

Conjugation is done by adding affixes (prefixes, postfixes, both or none), these suffixes change according to the tense.

In all Algerian Arabic dialects, there is no gender differentiation of the 2nd and 3rd person in the plural forms. However, there is no gender differentiation of the 2nd person in the singular form in pre-Hilalian dialects, unlike Hilalian ones where it has been preserved.

Person	Past		Present
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st	- t	- na	n -	n(e) - u
2nd (m)	- t	- tu	t -	t - u
2nd (f)	- ti	- tu	t - i	t - u
3rd (m)	-	- u	i/y(e) -	i/y(e) - u
3rd (f)	- t	- u	t(e) -	i/y(e) - u

• Example with the verb kteb "To write":

Person	Past		Present
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st (m)	ktebt	ktebna	nekteb	nekketbu
2nd (m)	ktebt	ktebtu	tekteb	tekketbu
2nd (f)	ktebti	ktebtu	tekketbi	tekketbu
3rd (m)	kteb	ketbu	yekteb	yekketbu
3rd (f)	ketbet	ketbu	tekteb	yekketbu

Person	Past		Present		Future		Present continuous
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st (m)	كتبت	كتبنا	نكتب	نكتبوا	رايح نكتب	رايحين نكتبوا	راني نكتب	رانا نكتبوا
2nd (m)	كتبت	كتبتوا	تكتب	تكتبوا	رايح تكتب	رايحين تكتبوا	راك تكتب	راكم تكتبوا
2nd (f)	كتبتي	كتبتوا	تكتبي	تكتبوا	رايحة تكتبي	رايحين تكتبوا	راكي تكتبي	راكم تكتبوا
3rd (m)	كتب	كتبوا	يكتب	يكتبوا	رايح يكتب	رايحين يكتبوا	راهو يكتب	راهم يكتبوا
3rd (f)	كتبت	كتبوا	تكتب	يكتبوا	رايحة تكتب	رايحين يكتبوا	راهي تكتب	راكم تكتبوا

Future tense

In Algeria speakers generally do not use the future tense as you see above, using instead the present tense or present continuous.

To add going to... just add (رايح) between the pronoun that makes the verb for example I'm writing become by adding this behind "I'm" or "راني" and before "I write" or "نكتب" I'm going to write. The plural form is done as (رايحين). This could be used for past tense as well.

Also, as is used in all of the other Arabic dialects there is another way of showing active tense. This form changes the root verb into an adjective. For example "kteb" he wrote will become "kateb" writing, كتب became كاتب.

Negation

Like all North African Arabic varieties (including Egyptian Arabic) along with some Levantine Arabic varieties, verbal expressions are negated by enclosing the verb with all its affixes, along with any adjacent pronoun-suffixed preposition, within the circumfix ma... š (/ʃ/):

• « lεebt » ("I played") → « ma lεebtš /ʃ/ » ما لعبتش ("I didn't play")
• « ma tţabbaεniiš » ("Don't push me")
• « ma yšaddu-lekš haaðu l-qraε » ("Those bottles won't last you long")
• « ma şaħħeet-liiš plaaşa » ("I couldn't get a seat / parking place")

Person	Past		Present		Future
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
1st (m)	ماكتبتش	ماكتبناش	مانكتبش	مانكتبواش	مارانيش رايح نكتب	ماراناش رايحين نكتبوا
2nd (m)	ماكتبتش	ماكتبتوش	ماتكتبش	ماتكتبواش	ماراكش رايح تكتب	ما راكمش رايحين تكتبوا
2nd (f)	ماكتبتيش	ماكتبتوش	ماتكتبيش	ماتكتبوش	ماراكيش رايحة تكتبي	ماراكمش رايحين تكتبوا
3rd (m)	ماكتبش	ماكتبوش	مايكتبش	مايكتبواش	ماراهش رايح يكتب	ماراهمش رايحين يكتبوا
3rd (f)	ماكتبتش	ماكتبوش	ماتكتبش	مايكتبوش	ماراكمش رايحين تكتبو	ماراهمش رايحين يكتبوا

Other negative words (walu...etc.) are used in combination with ma to express more complex types of negation. ʃ is not used when other negative words are used

• ma qult walu ماقلت والو ("I didn't say anything")
• ma šuft ħetta waħed ما شفت حتى واحد ("I didn't see anyone")

or when two verbs are consecutively in the negative

• ma šuft ma smeεt ما شفت ما سمعت ("I neither saw nor did I hear")

Verb derivation

Verb derivation is done by adding suffixes or by doubling consonants, there are two types of derivation forms : Causative, Passive.

• Causative: is obtained by doubling consonants :

khrej "to go out" → kherrej "to make to go out"

dkhel "to enter" → dekhkhel "to make to enter, to introduce"

• Passive: This derivation is similar to Berber and does not exist in Classical Arabic (the passive voice in classical Arabic uses vowel changes and not verb derivation), it is obtained by prefixing the verb with t- / tt- / tn- / n- :

qtel "to kill" → tneqtel "to be killed"

šreb "to drink" → ttešreb "to be drunk".

The adverbs of location

Things could be in three places hnaya (right here), hna (here) or el-hih (there).

Pronoun

Personal pronouns

Most Algerian Arabic dialects have 8 personal pronouns, since they have not conserved gender differentiation of the 2nd and 3rd person in the plural forms. However, pre-Hilalian dialects only retain 7 personal pronouns since gender differentiation of the 2nd person in the singular form is absent.

Person	Singular	Plural
1st	ana / anaya	ḥna / ḥnaya
2nd (m)	enta / ntaya	entuma
2nd (f)	enti / entiyya	entuma
3rd (m)	huwa	huma
3rd (f)	hiya	huma

Example : « Ana tani. » — "Me too."

Person	Algerian Arabic	Pronunciation
I am	راني	rani
You are (m)	راك	rak
You are (f)	راكي	raki
He is	راهو	rahu
She is	راهي or راها	rahi or raha
We are	رانا	rana
You or Y'all are	راكُ	raku
You or Y'all are	راكم	rakum (m)and (f)
They are	راهم	rahum (m)and (f)

Example : « Rani hna. » — "I'm here." and « Wech raki. » or « Ki raki(western dialect). » — "How are you." to a woman.

Possessive pronouns

Dar (دار) is the word for house

Person	Singular	Plural
1st	i (داري)	na (دارنا)
2nd	(e)k (دارك)	kum (داركم)
3rd (m)	u (داره, دارو)	hum (دارهم)
3rd (f)	ha (دارها)	hum (دارهم)

Example : « dar-na. » — "Our house." (House-our), these possessive are frequently combined with « nteε or teε (تاع)» "of" and « dial » "property" : « dar nteε-na » — "Our house.", « dar dial-kum » ...etc.

SINGULAR تاعي = my or mine (pronounced ta'ee) تاعك = your or yours (m) (pronounced ta'ak) تاعكِ = your or yours (f) (pronounced ta'ik) تاعه = his (pronounced ta'u) تاعها = hers (pronounced ta'ha) PLURAL تاعنا = our or ours (pronounced ta'na) تاعكم = your or yours (m) (pronounced ta'kum) تاعكن = your or yours (f) (pronounced ta'kun) تاعكُ = your or yours (pronounced ta'ku) تاعهم = their or theirs (m) (pronounced ta'hum) تاعهن = their or theirs (f) (pronounced ta'hun)

Our house can be "Darna" (دارنا) or "Dar ta'na" (دار تاعنا) which is more like saying 'house of ours'. Ta' can be used in other ways just like of is used in English or more like in Spanish. You can say "Dar ta' khuya" (دار تاع خويا) which means 'house of my brother' or 'my brother's house'.

Interrogatives

Interrogatives	Other ways of saying it	Algerian Arabic	Pronunciation
What?	اش، شنو، واشنو	واش	wash/ sha ?
When?	فاوك, وقتاه، وينتا، إمتى	وقتاش	wektash/ weenta ?
Why?	علاه، وعلاش، لاه، لياه,	علاش	alash / lech ?
Which?	واش من	آما	ama ?
Where?	فين	وين	ween ?
Who?	أشكون , من	شكون	shkoon?
How?	كيفاه، كي	كيفاش	kifash ?
How many?	أشحال، قداش، قداه	شحال	shHal ?
Whose?	ديال من	تاع من	ta'men ?

Pronouns of the verb

Person	Singular	Plural
1st	ni	na
2nd (m)	(e)k	kum
3rd (m)	u (after a consonant) / h (after a vowel) / hu (before an indirect object pronoun)	hum
3rd (m)	ha	hum

Examples:

« šeft-ni. » — "You saw me." (You.saw-me)

« qetl-u. » — "He killed him." (He.killed-him)

« kla-h. » — "He ate it." (He.ate-it)

Demonstratives

Unlike classical Arabic, Algerian Arabic do address two things and more exactly the same. These are pretty much all of the demonstratives used in Algerian Arabic. The demonstrative (hadi) is also used for "It is".

Interrogatives	Emphasized	Algerian Arabic	Pronunciation
This	هذا (m), هذه (f), هاديا	هاد (m), هادي (f)	had (m), hadi (f)
That	هداك (m), هديك (f)	داك (m), ديك (f)	dak (m), dik (f)
These	هدوما	هدو	hadu
Those	هدوك	دوك	duk

Sample text

The text below was translated from Kabylie, In. MOULIERAS (Auguste), les fourberies de si Djeh'a.

Buzelluf

Sheep Head

Waḥed nnhar, jeḥḥa med-lu baba-h frank, baš yešri buzelluf. šra-h, kla geɛ leḥm-u. bqa γir leɛḍam, jab-u l baba-h. ki šaf-u qal-lu: "wešnu hada?" qal-lu: "buzelluf". -A ššmata, win rahum wedni-h? -Kan ṭreš. -Win rahum ɛini-h? -Kan ɛwer. -Win rah lsan-u? -Kan ɛeggun. -U jeldet ras-u, win rah? -Kan ferṭas.

One day, Jehha's father gave him one cent, so that he buys a sheep head. He bought it, and ate all of its meat. Only an empty carcass was left, he brought it to his father. Then, when he saw it he said: "what is that?" Jehha said: "a sheep head". -You vile, where are its (sheep) ears? -It was deaf. -Where are its eyes? -It was blind. -Where is its tongue? -It was dumb. -And the skin of its head, where is it? -It was bald.

See also

• Varieties of Arabic
• Maghrebi Arabic
• Moroccan Arabic
• Tunisian Arabic
• Hassaniya Arabic
• Libyan Arabic
• Languages of Algeria

Varieties of Arabic Pre-Islamic Ancient North Arabian Dadanitic Oasis North Arabian Dumaitic Hasaitic Hismaic Safaitic Taymanitic Thamudic Pre-classical Modern literary Classical Modern Standard Maltese Peninsular Northeastern Gulf Omani Shihhi Dhofari Kuwaiti Najdi Western Bareqi Hejazi Sedentary Bedouin Southern Baharna Yemeni Hadhrami Sanaani Ta'izzi-Adeni Tihami Judeo-Yemeni Northwestern Bedouin Eastern Mesopotamian North Mesopotamian Cypriot Maronite Anatolian Judeo-Iraqi South Mesopotamian Baghdad Koiné Khuzestani Central Asian Afghani Khorasani Tajiki Uzbeki Qashqadaryan Bukharian Levantine North Levantine North Syrian Central Levantine Central Syrian Lebanese South Levantine Jordanian Palestinian Urban Central village Outer southern Nilo-Egyptian Egyptian Chadian Sa'idi Sudanese Western Iberian Andalusian Maghrebi Pre-Hilalian Urban Eastern Village Sahel Lesser Kabylia Western Village Traras-Msirda Mountain Jewish Judeo-Moroccan Judeo-Tripolitanian Judeo-Tunisian Hilalian Sulaym Libyan koiné Eastern Hilal Tunisian koiné Central Hilal Algerian koiné Central and Saharan Eastern Algerian Western Algerian Maqil Western Moroccan Eastern Moroccan Moroccan koiné Hassānīya Siculo-Arabic Maltese Sicilian Undescribed Shirvani Judeo-Arabic Judeo-Iraqi Judeo-Baghdadi Judeo-Moroccan Judeo-Tripolitanian Judeo-Tunisian Judeo-Yemeni Creoles and pidgins Babalia Bimbashi Juba Nubi Maridi Turku Italics indicate extinct languages.

References

Algerian Arabic test of Wikipedia at Wikimedia Incubator